Trough structure

ABSTRACT

A trough structure particularly adapted for use as an irrigation trough or flume which is formed from a plurality of rectangular sheets of relatively inexpensive material such as corrugated roofing and which is supported above the ground by portable supports spaced apart longitudinally of the path of the trough. The ends of adjacent sheets of material are secured in lapping relationship to each other at said supports and means is provided for preventing leakage at the lapped seams.

United States Patent 91 Bailey [54] TROUGH STRUCTURE [76] Inventor: ToddD. Bailey, 2767 Olive Highway, Oroville, Calif. 95965 [22] Filed: Aug.18, 1969 21 Appl. No.: 850,814

[52] US. Cl ..61/15, 29/453 [51] Int. Cl. ..E02b 9/04 [58] Field ofSearch ..61/14, 15, 12; 52/11-15, 75-78; 29/155, 453; 193/2, 25

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,746,965 2/1930 Porter..29/453 X [111 3,733,832 51 May 22, 1973 Primary Examiner-J. Karl BellAttorney-Gordon Wood [5 7] ABSTRACT A trough structure particularlyadapted for use as an irrigation trough or flume which is formed from aplurality of rectangular sheets of relatively inexpensive material suchas corrugated roofing and which is supported above the ground byportable supports spaced apart longitudinally of the path of the trough.The ends of adjacent sheets of material are secured in lappingrelationship to each other at said supports and means is provided forpreventing leakage at the lapped scams.

2 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures Patented May 22, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR.

TROUGII STRUCTURE This invention relates to a trough structure and moreparticularly to a water carrying trough which is particularly adaptedfor irrigation purposes. I-Ieretofore the two prevalent methods ofirrigating have been by means of ditches dug in the ground or by meansof pipe usually resting on the ground. Both of these methods arerelatively expensive and have certain disadvantages which impair theirutility.

The relatively expensive ditch method of irrigation has the disadvantageof permitting a considerable quantity of water to be lost by seepageinto the ground and by loss of water through holes formed by burrowinganimals and through cracks in the earth. The high expense of maintainingirrigation ditches is aggravated by the fact that weed growth promotedby the water must be prevented or removed. In addition, the spaceoccupied by the ditch is lost in so far as its use for growing crops isconcerned.

The expensive pipe method of irrigation has the disadvantage ofrequiring a considerable amount of time and expense in running the pipealong the desired path. Furthermore, the pipe method is inherentlyuneconomical in the sense that for the amount of pipe periphery employedthe volume of water that can be carried is considerably less than by anupwardly opening trough. In addition, the original cost is greatlyincreased by the expense of transporting the pipe which takes up a greatamount of space.

The main object of the present invention is to overcome thedisadvantages of prior art methods of irrigation and particularly thosemethods involving ditches dug in the ground and the use of pipe.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a method andapparatus for forming an irrigation trough which is considerably lessexpensive than irrigation methods and structures heretofore employed.

Yet another object of the invention is the provision of a method andtrough structure for conducting a maximum amount of water for theperiphery of the trough employed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an irrigation troughstructure which lends itself to use on irregular terrain and which isportable and quickly erected by inexperienced personnel.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an irrigation troughwhich minimizes the loss of water by preventing leakage and which is notsusceptible to damage by earth burrowing animals, earth cracking andweed growth and which does not occupy a space which might otherwise beemployed for growing crops.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thefollowing Specification and from the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a small scale side elevational view of a typical portion ofthe irrigation trough.

FIG. 2 is a small scale cross sectional view of the irrigational troughof FIG. 1 as taken in a plane indicated by lines 22 of FIG. 1 andshowing the base of the trough structure.

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the lapped portion of a pair ofcorrugated sheets from which the trough is formed.

FIG. 4 is a greatly enlarged cross sectional view of the trough at oneof the support members showing one method by which the lapped portion ofthe trough is secured to said support.

FIG. 5 is a perspective of a base showing the manner in which it issecured to the lower end of a supporting leg.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through the trough showinganother method of securing the lapped portion to the support.

FIG. 7 is a perspective of the semicircular securing member of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view showing another method of securing thetrough to the support.

FIG. 9 is a perspective of the U-shaped tightening element of FIG. 8.

In detail and first with reference to FIG. 1, the invention comprises atrough generally designated 10 which is supported above the ground atspaced points along its length by supports generally designated 11. Aswill be seen later on in greater detail, the supports 11 each comprisesa pair of legs 12, 13 (FIG. 2) which are secured at their lower ends tobase members 14.

Although the supports 11 may take various forms a preferred form isshown in FIG. 4 wherein a saddle generally designated 15 is supportedabove the ground by means of the legs 12, 13. In this case the legs l2,l3 telescopically receive the ends of the saddle 15.

Although the saddle 15 may be formed from a flat bar of metal, or castfrom plastic or by any other suitable means, the embodiment of FIG. 4 isformed from a length of standard pipe and includes a generallysemicircular portion 16 provided with a pair of return bends 18, 19 atits opposite ends and downwardly and outwardly diverging terminalportions 20, 21. These terminal portions 20, 21 are each provided with arow of holes 22 which are adapted to receive a bolt 23 therethroughresting on the upper end of the associated pipe leg so as to secure thesaddle 15 at any desired adjustable elevation when said terminalportions are received within the upper ends of the pipe legs 12, 13.

At the lower end of each leg 12, 13 a base 14 is provided formed from asection of sheet material from which an upwardly projecting tongue 28 isstruck and adapted to be received within the lower end of the pipe leg.As best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, this readily adjustable but rigid supportstructure permits the trough 10 to be erected over irregular terrain andat the same time permits the predetermined gentle slope of the trough tobe established accurately in order to carry out the irrigationeffectively.

At the upper ends of the semicircular portion 16 of the saddle 15 thereare provided a pair of abutments 40, 41 which may conveniently beconventional carriage bolts provided with an enlarged section 42 betweenthe shank 43 and the head 44. The bolt shank is passed through asuitable aperture in the pipe at the juncture between the semicircularportion 16 of the saddle and the return bend portion.

In FIG. 3 there are shown, in spaced relationship with the saddle 15, apair of rectangular sheets 10', 10" which in this case are sheets ofconventional steel corrugated roofing the gage of which may vary fromabout 0.02 to about 0.1 depending upon the spacing desired betweensupports 11.. In forming the trough 10 the sheets 10, 10" (FIG. 3) areurged downwardly into the saddle 15 with their adjacent margins lappedas indicated in FIG. 6. As the sheets 10', 10" are urged downwardly attheir central portions between the abutments 40, 41, the sheets are bentto an arcuate shape transversely of the trough until the longitudinallyextending side edges of the sheets pass the bolt heads 44 so that whenthe downward pressure on sheets 10', 10" is released the side edges 51snap into the space between the heads 44 and the saddle l5 and intoengagement with the downwardly directed surfaces of enlarged sections42. In order to effect this method of assembly it will be apparent thatthe length of the inwardly directed surface of the semicircular portion16 of the saddle between bolts 40, 41 must be greater than the width ofthe sheets 10" so that as said sheets snap into place against theabutments 40, 41 a space remains between the bottom of the lower sheet10" and the inwardly directed surface of semicircular portion 16 (seeFIG. 4). In order to complete the assembly and to insure a tight sealbetween the opposed surfaces of the lapped portion 50 of sheets 10', 10"a pair 'of wedges 53 may be driven into the space between the lowersheet 10" and the saddle 15. It has been found that a tighter joint isestablished if the wedges 53 are formed with an arcuate longitudinallyextending groove 54 along their upper sides so as to conform to theconvex portions of the corrugated sheets 10". If the wedges are driveninto the concave portions of the corrugations it has been found thatleakage is more likely to occur.

Although an exceptionally good tight joint is achieved by the abovedescribed method of assembly, it is preferable to provide some sort ofsealing means between the opposed surfaces of the lapped portion 50 ofthe sheets 10', 19'. Such sealing material may be a bitumastic materialin plastic form spread on the lapped portions at assembly or,preferably, a ribbon of elastomeric material or other suitable resilientmaterial may be applied between said lapped portions and extendingbetween the longitudinally extending side edges of the sheet asindicated at 55 in FIG. 6. It will be apparent that the sheets 10', 10"nest so closely that the cross sectional extent of the ribbon 55 neednot be very great to effect a perfect seal against leakage.

It will be apparent that the above described trough structure may beerected quickly by one or more men and that literally miles of troughmay be assembled in one day. It will be appreciated that one vehicle canbe employed to transport an extremely large number of sheets of thetrough forming material and, since there are no complicated assemblysteps required to be performed, each saddle and its associated sheetsmay be erected and assembled in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, itwill also be apparent that disassembly of the trough is a simple mattersince removal of the sheets requires only the hammering out of thewedges S3 to permit the sheets to be removed from the saddle supports.

The present invention also contemplates the provision of abutmentssimilar to abutments 40, 41 that may be made adjustable and tightened inthe longitudinal side edges of the corrugated sheets. However, this sortof structure is not preferable since the greatest economies in erectionof the structure are effected by minimizing the manual minipulationsinvolved at assembly.

An alternative form of tightening means which may be employed with orwithout the wedges 53 is shown in FIGS. 8, 9. In this case a tighteningeffect between the lapped portions of adjacent sheets may be achieved bylike between the upper edges of the sheets and the abutment surfaces 43of the abutments 40, 41 (FIG. 8). This tightening means has theadvantage of simplicity driving a U-shaped clip 60 formed of sheet metalor the 6 and not requiring complicated screw threaded elements which maybecome rusted and inoperative.

Still another method of effecting a water tightassembly is shown inFIGS. 6, 7. In this case a relatively stiff semi-circular strap 62 isprovided with a pair of notches 63, 64 at its end edges adapted toengage abutments 40, 41 respectively. By swinging the strap about theabutments as indicated in FIG. 6 it will be seen that a wedging effectis produced along the entire semicircular inner periphery of the lappedportion of the trough causing the sheets to be compressed tightlytogether and against the semicircular portion of the saddle. In thisconnection it will be understood that the fabrication of the saddle 15may be done extremely accurately and the abutments 40, 41 locatedrelative to the semicircular portion 16 of the saddle so as to obtain apredetermined amount of tightness in the lapped joint.

The present invention contemplates other variations of the particularstructure described above. For example, the sheets of trough formingmaterial may be made of any suitable material, including plastic, andneed not necessarily be formed with corrugations. However, it will beapparent that the corrugations such as are formed in standard roofingand siding greatly improve the rigidity of the trough so that thespacing between the supports 11 may be relatively large thus reducingthe number of supports required and also the expense of forming thefinished structure. Naturally the semicircular cross section alsocontributes to rigidity of the structure.

One of the important features of the invention is that no useable landneed be lost because of the presence of the trough and it is possible togrow many types of crops under the elevated trough structure if desired.

With respect to the effectiveness of the structure it will be apparentthat the semicircular periphery of the trough permits a maximum volumeof water conveyed whereas in the case of conventional round pipe themaximum amount of water that can be conveyed with the equivalentperiphery of conduit is only one-half of that conveyed by thesemicircular conduit of the present invention.

The repair of damage to the irrigation trough is simplified in that adamaged sheet of trough material may readily be removed withoutaffecting the water supply by providing a readily installed dam ofsemicircular shape on each side of the damaged sheet and replacing thedamaged sheet without loss of a substantial amount of water.

Since most agricultural land is level, it will be apparent that the legsl2, 13 will not be required for most of the trough length and that onlythe saddle 15 need be used. In such a case the terminal portions 20, 21of the saddle may be connected to bases 14.

In the following claims the characterization of the sheets as initiallyplanar" is intended to include corrugated sheet, the general shape ofwhich is planar except for the local corrugations.

I claim:

1. The method of forming an irrigation trough or the like along anelongated path from a plurality of serially connected trough sectionscomprising the steps of:

establishing a pair of abutments spaced apart transversely of said path,

disposing an elongated sheet of resilient material Iongitudinally ofsaid path and over said abutments,

6 urging said sheet downwardly at its central portion with other similarsheets and with each successive between and past said abutments to bendsaid sheet sheet in overlapping relation at one of its ends withtransversely to an arcuate cross sectional contour, the adjacent end ofthe preceding sheet. and 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said centralporpermitting the side edges of said sheet to engage said 5 tion of saidsheet is supported by an upwardly directed abutments to hold said sheetto said arcuate conforce while said longitudinal side edges are inengagetour, thereby forming one trough section, ment with saidabutments. successively repeating the above mentioned steps

1. The method of forming an irrigation trough or the like along anelongated path from a plurality of serially connected trough sectionscomprising the steps of: establishing a pair of abutments spaced aparttransversely of said path, disposing an elongated sheet of resilientmaterial longitudinally of said path and over said abutments, urgingsaid sheet downwardly at its central portion between and past saidabutments to bend said sheet transversely to an arcuate cross sectionalcontour, and permitting the side edges of said sheet to engage saidabutments to hold said sheet to said arcuate contour, thereby formingone trough section, successively repeating the above mentioned stepswith other similar sheets and with each successive sheet in overlappingrelation at one of its ends with the adjacent end of the precedingsheet.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein said central portion of saidsheet is supported by an upwardly directed force while said longitudinalside edges are in engagement with said abutments.